As beauty consciousness grows among people of all ages, an increasing number of men and women feel the need to look their best at all times. Hair styles serve as important part of a persona, because they are simultaneously public (visible to everyone), personal (biologically linked to the body) and highly malleable to suit cultural and personal preferences.
One way of enhancing the look of a particular hairstyle is by using hair extensions. Hair extensions, also known as “weft hair extensions”, add length and/or fullness of volume to human hair. These extensions are a means to lengthen one's hair by incorporating artificial hair or natural hair, collected from other individuals, to one's own. There are many reasons men and women wear extensions. Sometimes, people desire longer hair or a greater volume of hair than they naturally have. Others gradually go bald, or have receding hair lines. A person of either gender might cut their hair and regret it later on. Some people have a hard time growing their hair once it reaches a certain length. Hair extensions help them reach their desired length. Some people who do not want to damage their own natural hair by dyeing it use hair extensions to add streaks of color throughout their hair.
Current methods for temporary hair augmentation include sew-ins, gluing, hair fusion, hair tape, metal coils, rubber bands and hair clips. Each of these methods has substantial drawbacks, however. Attaching hair extensions using the sew-in method is a painful and painstaking process that involves a needle and thread to join hair extensions to the client's natural hair. Often, the needle pricks the scalp during the process of hair extension. Gluing and hair fusion are also time consuming processes that involve attaching small groups of hair to the client's own with a fixative. Due to the nature of the fixative, both types of these hair augmentation processes often entail some loss of the client's natural hair during their removal. Hair tape is a fairly quick method of hair augmentation, but is not a reliable one as hair extensions attached to the client's natural hair in this manner may not attach securely if the client's hair is oily, and may cause hair loss when removing if the client's hair is dry. Metal coils and rubber bands are other time consuming hair augmentation methods that involve the addition of small quantities of hair to even smaller clusters of the client's own hair. Both methods involve pulling of the client's natural hair at its roots, and often create hair loss with their removal. Hair clips are a quick method of hair extension that are simple enough for the client to attach herself. Hair clips can be worn during the day, but are removed prior to going to bed as they are uncomfortable to sleep in.
There is a need for a method for attaching hair extensions quickly and easily with the minimum of discomfort that also allows for their painless and easy removal and/or repositioning. There is a need for a suitable apparatus which, when used by a hair stylist on a hair extension client, facilitates the attachment of the hair extensions.